Tesco Ireland

Tesco Ireland is the Irish arm of supermarket group Tesco and controls 28% of the grocery market. It was formed in Tesco plc's 1997 takeover of the Irish retailing operations of Associated British Foods, namely Powers' Supermarkets Limited and its subsidiaries, trading as Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices.

Tesco operates supermarkets under the "Tesco" brand, as well as five hypermarkets under the "Tesco Extra" brand, and a small number of convenience stores under the "Tesco Express" brand and a Metro store in Dublin's Temple Bar. Several petrol stations are also operated by the company, as well as an internet shopping service, Tesco.ie. In 2007 the company launched its mobile telephone service, "Tesco Mobile". Tesco Ireland currently operates a number of 24 hour stores.

The Irish Times in April 2011 acidly commented that "Increasingly, Ireland is being viewed as a provincial backwater by the parent company – albeit a very profitable little backwater – and all the strategic decisions are being taken in the UK.

Tesco's profit margins in the Republic are the company's highest in the world according to retail industry analysts in London, who have a detailed knowledge of Tesco's worldwide operations. Tesco's Irish profit margin, was 9.3 per cent in 2008 and is projected to rise to 9.5 per cent by the end of 2009. This makes the Irish operation Tesco's most successful worldwide in margin terms. Tesco's Irish profit margin is all the more remarkable given that the company sells a much larger volume of higher margin non-food items at its UK stores.